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REVIEW: Only Lovers Left Alive

This one just may be an instant classic. The tres artsy Jim Jarmusch has created the thinking person’s vampire film. A non-scary vampire film. A love story over the ages for the ages. An older woman-younger man vampire movie. Tilda Swinton is a few thousand years older and as a result, a whole lot more optimistic and resilient than the brooding human-hating scientist/indie rocker Tom Hiddleston (best known for the villain in “Thor”. She’s Eve. He’s Adam.

There’s so much to love about this film. There’s lots of droll humor and many asides to art, music, literature and science. John Hurt plays a vampire named Marlowe (named for the writer some think was the real writer of Shakespeare’s work) . Mia Wasikowska is Eve’s younger uncontrollable sister from L.A. , who denounces Adam and Eve as snobs when Ava is thrown out for killing a human (Anton Yelchin ) for his blood. Adam and Eve are so evolved, they no longer kill humans or even suck enough blood to turn the humans into vampires. They buy pure blood from professional institutions. Besides, the zombies (that’s what Adam calls humans) have tainted the blood supply with disease- so blood straight from a human is risky and can actually lead to a vampire’s demise.

The film is mostly set in Detroit where the reluctantly famous Adam (think the late Kurt Cobain or Eddie Vedder as vampires) figures he won’t be found by his fans. We get a nighttime tour of the relics, including the home where rocker Jack White grew up. White starred in Jarmusch’s 2003 film “Coffee and Cigarettes”. There are lots of asides like this in the film- I probably missed more than a a few.

Twilda Swinton was born to play a vampire. Tom Hiddleston is equally elegant and fashionable . The clothes!!!!!

This is one that begs a second view. I’m a sucker for vampire movies but this one’s so bloody good, I can’t stop talking about it.